Series 8
Series 8 'of Strictly Come Dancing began airing on BBC One on September 11, 2010 with a red carpet launch show, and the competitive live shows began on October 1. The series was presented by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly on a Saturday, whilst Claudia Winkleman presented on a Sunday and returned to present spin-off show called Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. The judging panel consisted of Craig Revel Horwood, Alesha Dixon, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. According to BARB data, this series was the consistently highest rated of the show to date, peaking at 14.28 million viewers. There were three new male professionals, Artem Chigvintsev, Robin Windsor and Jared Murillo. For Series 8, the set has been totally revamped to try to attract more viewers to the programme, the backstage room where scores were given has been replaced by a tower above the dancefloor so the couples can watch as their team mates perform. In Week 8 of the competition the live show was transmitted from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. The celebrities did not know their professional partners until they were introduced to each other at the launch show and at the age of 61, Pamela Stephenson became (by far) the oldest contestant to ever make it to the finale. Kara Tointon and her partner, Artem Chigvintsev were crowned series champions. Couples In the eighth series, there were fourteen celebrity contestants: Scoring Chart *Gold: Winners *Silver: 2nd Place *Bronze: 3rd Place *Pink: Couple eliminated that week *Blue: Couple withdrew from the competition that week 'Average Chart This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 40-point scale. Highest and Lowest Scoring Performances The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' scores area as follows: Couples' Highest and Lowest Scoring Dances Weekly Scores and Songs Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores are given (in parenthesis) in this order from left to right: Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli. 'Week 1' *Musical Guest: Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow - "Shame" 'Night 1' 'Night 2' 'Week 2' *Musical Guest: Robbie Williams - "Rock DJ" 'Week 3' *Musical Guest: Peter Andre - "Defender" 'Week 4' *Musical Guest: Neil Diamond - "Midnight Train to Georgia" *Ian Waite stood in for Brendan Cole who was away attending his father's funeral. 'Week 5: Halloween Week' *Musical Guest: Alice Cooper - "Poison" 'Week 6' *Musical Guest: Bryan Ferry - "You Can Dance" 'Week 7' *Musical Guest: Annie Lennox - "Universal Child" and Alesha Dixon - "Radio" 'Week 8: Blackpool Week' *Musical Guest: Duffy - "Well, Well, Well" 'Week 9' *Musical Guest: James Blunt - "So Far Gone" 'Week 10: Movie Night' *Musical Guest: Manic Street Preachers - "Some Kind of Nothingness" 'Week 11: Semi-final' *Musical Guest: Take That - "The Flood" and "Back for Good" 'Night 1' 'Night 2' 'Week 12: Final' *Musical Guest: Paloma Faith - "Upside Down" 'Show 1' 'Show 2' Dance Chart *Green: Highest Scoring Dance *Pink: Lowest Scoring Dance TV Ratings Weekly ratings for each show on BBC One. All numbers are in millions and provided by BARB. Professional Partners Each year the professional dancers perform professional routines and dance to the special guest. With three new male professional dancers some of the professional pairings have changed again. The following professional partners will dance with each other for the professional routines: *Anton du Beke and Erin Boag *Brendan Cole and Natalie Lowe *James Jordan and Ola Jordan *Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace *Artem Chigvintsev and Katya Virshilas *Jared Murillo and Aliona Vilani *Robin Windsor and Kristina Rihanoff 'Professional Dance Troupe' *Darren Bennett and Crystal Main *Ian Waite and Aneta Piotrowska *Shem Jacobs and Tanya Perera The dances that the Dance Troupe have performed: *'Launch Show: '''Quickstep and Jive to "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet *'Week 2: Quickstep to "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train *'Week 5: '''Viennese Waltz to "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS *'Week 6: Rock 'n' Roll to "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay" by Danny and the Juniors, "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Bill Haley *'Week 7: '''Paso Doble to "Radio" by Alesha Dixon *'Week 10: 'ABBA Medley to "Mamma Mia", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Take a Chance on Me" *'Week 11: '''Paso Doble to "Fire With Fire" by Scissor Sisters Category:Series 8 Category:Series